Robyn Hitchcock (full band) - Cambridge, Portland Arms - 6 September, 2024.complete. "The Disciple of Psychedelia"
I read, copy & paste the entire article by Antonio Bacciocchi:
Robyn Hitchcock has always been a faithful disciple of the brief epic and sonic attitude of Syd Barrett, which permeated his first adventure with the Soft Boys and his subsequent solo incarnation.
It’s no surprise, then, that his autobiography 1967 (published by Hellnation Libri, translated by Carlo Bordone) revolves almost exclusively around that fateful 1967 that sublimated the psychedelic period, and around his fourteen years, when he discovered and fell in love with Bob Dylan, the Incredible String Band and, inevitably, the Beatles, in a sort of ramshackle yet fascinating coming-of-age novel.
The preadolescent flashes are blinding snapshots we have all more or less experienced: “I can’t wait for my voice to drop, to grow a respectable amount of fuzz, and to finally leave behind the creaking realm of childhood.” Alien entities such as David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix arrive too, sparking the ongoing change even further: “I am a teenager on fire, Christ almighty, this is music that makes you levitate.”
Clothes become bolder, hair grows longer: “I’m learning that the barber is the natural enemy of freedom.” Even though the transition period is still long and complex: “A culture where everyone is male and women are another species; they only exist behind glass, like a Mona Lisa. There are people, and then there are females.”
Suddenly a record player and a guitar appear, and nothing is ever the same again: “I’ve got my guitar and my cousin, bless him, lends me one of those life-changing objects: a battery-powered turntable.”
Even the much desired physical aspect changes: “I’m six feet tall with a Beatles mop-top”, but also a later, illuminating realization, one many can relate to, that remains the cornerstone of his existence: “I’m a teenager, and I’ll remain so for the rest of my life.”
He starts playing along with the much beloved records of his new idols: “My instinct was to play guitar long before I knew how to actually play it.”
In the end, Robyn would live off his music, travel the world, record excellent albums, and give interviews to the very magazines he frantically leafed through as a teenager, following that “spirit of 1967” from which he began. “All told, I’m grateful that the stopped clock of 1967 still chimes inside me. It gave me a livelihood for life.”
A simply delightful book.
Il discepolo della psichedelia | il manifesto vissuto: corso: allungano: complesso: prima: vita: fisico: esistenza: idoli:
